The Capital Exhibition (CE) Centre opened at the end of 2011, but as of November 2012, it's now called the Ernst & Young Centre.
I attended their first event, a 16+ deadmau5 concert just after Christmas. It was a huge space with coat check. There were tons of people there, as you would imagine, and the space was only half filled. They served alcohol at two bar stations, and there wasn't really much of a line up to get a drink, which was great, but I can't say the same for the women's washrooms. Like every other venue, there was a wonderful line to wait in for about 5-10 minutes. It might sound weird and possibly gross, but the girls began doubling up after realizing the line was getting longer and longer, and you were missing the concert. Maybe it was the screaming 16-year-old girls that rushed into the washrooms in large groups, but all I had to do was get in, do my business, wash hands, leave. Couldn't care less about hair, makeup, whatever, but I couldn't just get in and out due to the lack of washrooms (two in total, I think), even though there was a decent amount of stalls in each. After awhile, the whole venue got a bit trashed, but that was expected.
Since then, I've been back for a couple of Sexapaloozas, which were much more structured and the Centre was a perfect size to showcase all of the vendor booths, though I can tell you right off the bat that the temperature was at two different extremes. For one Sexapalooza, it was absolutely freezing, then another, it was just boiling. In the very back corner, they were selling drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), cookies, sandwiches, hamburgers, and my favorite, jumbo hot dogs! They were tasty, but the tandoori mayo with the crunchy, non-spicy jalapeños (if you can believe it), made them primo! And it wasn't just me.. people kept going back for more. I had two to my face *blush*.. actually, no, not even a little bit ashamed. They were delicious.
I also came here for a Grade 8 WRK 4 U 2 event to represent an employer. I found it so so SO cold this time around - the cement floor was a pain to stand on, and by the end, my knees and back hurt like an old lady. I believe one of the culinary colleges catered the event for all of the employers attending, but there was no hot food to be found. I don't drink coffee or non-herbal tea, so I settled for some hot water and kept my scarf on to keep me warm.
Overall, it's a decent venue, but pretty plain Jane. Seems sort of out of the way, and but you can easily drive or cab (this will cost much more depending on where yo're coming from), and also easy to get to by bussing from downtown. However, it's totally brutal to find the bus stop outta there when it's not a 'special event'. We had to walk all the way around and up the hill to get onto the bridge where the stop was to head back downtown. Thank God it wasn't killer cold out! Hopefully they'll add more bus stops to depart from the Centre directly. If they added some restaurants (fast food included, I'll take anything!) around that area, I feel like it would help persuade people to attend an event there.
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